Poems by Blake (William Blake) — NCERT Solutions

The two poems are matched opposites. The Divine Image presents the Song of Innocence view of human beings: people are naturally linked with Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love, and the divine is seen in human goodness. The Human Abstract gives the Song of Experience view: these same virtues become twisted when human beings are ruled by fear, selfishness, cruelty, mystery, and deceit.

So, in Innocence, the human being is shown as kind, loving, and godlike; in Experience, he or she is shown as fallen, divided, and morally distorted. Blake suggests that both sides can exist in an average human being: the ideal, compassionate side and the dark, selfish side. Human life contains both innocence and experience.

These lines mean that Mercy, Pity, Love, and Peace are not just abstract ideas; they are qualities that should be seen as part of human life itself.

• Mercy is shown as having a human heart, because compassion comes from inner feeling.
• Pity has a human face, because sympathy is visible in expression and action.
• Love has the human form divine, meaning true love makes a person spiritually beautiful and godlike.
• Peace has the human dress, suggesting peace should outwardly cover and protect human life, like clothing.

Blake is saying that these virtues are the true image of humanity and reflect the divine in human beings.

In The Human Abstract, Blake shows these virtues becoming distorted by human evil.

• Pity and Mercy do not exist freely in a perfect world; they appear because there is suffering, poverty, and unhappiness.
• Then mutual fear and selfishness grow.
• Out of this fear comes Cruelty, which traps people like a snare.
• This cruelty is dressed up with holy fears and tears, so Humility grows out of false sorrow.
• From this, Mystery spreads its dark shade.
• Finally, Deceit bears its fruit, and corruption grows in the human mind.

So Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love are twisted into forms controlled by fear, greed, cruelty, and deceit in the human brain.